A global day of action for people to make a stand for good food and essential cooking skills. It's a chance for people to come together within their homes, schools, workplaces and communities to cook and share their kitchen skills, food knowledge and resources. Food Revolution Day aims to raise awareness about the importance of good food and better food education for everyone by focusing on three simple actions – cook it, share it, live it.
At the heart of the day is Jamie Oliver, and the global day is brought about through the collaboration of The Good Foundation in Australia, The Better Food Foundation in the UK and The Jamie Oliver Food Foundation in the US.
As you will know, I have long been interested in food and how it affects our bodies. Even prior to the recent elimination diet and Whole 30 experience I explored how food was effecting me almost 10 years ago, when I successfully altered my diet to reduce the symptoms of PCOS. I even studied Nutritional Medicine for a while and that is an area I would love to get back into one day. I am also passionate that everyone should know how to cook. It horrifies me when you are at the supermarket and the checkout operator has to ask what broccoli is!
I have great memories of cooking with my mum when I was a kid. I am trying my best to offer BB a good foundation in the kitchen. He helps me to prepare at least a part of most of the meals that we eat. He can stir and mix, put the peelings into the bowl for the chickens, put food into the baking trays or pans. He eats really well most of the time, and I really believe that when he has hand in cooking he is more likely to eat good food. He will eat cauliflower and green beans, for example, if he has helped to prepare them.
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| Sorting the Vegetables |
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| Removing the stalks from the spinach |
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Coating the cauliflower with ghee, and
placing it on the baking tray ready for roasting |
I have also long been interested in growing my own food. Again my these were basic skills passed on by my mum. My professional history in Education for Sustainability also brings all this together for me, having worked as an advisor to many schools in Central Australia who were working on projects planning their own gardens, growing food and then cooking, sharing and eating it. It was a fabulous time and this is definitely an area where my passion in education lies. It's hands on, purposeful, meaningful, fun, and good for you. How can you get better than that!
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| A School Garden on the edge of the Tanami Desert |
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Planting Sunflower Seeds (age 10 Months)
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It's probably no surprise then, that I am also teaching BB how to grow his own food. He planted his first seeds last year. This year he has more idea about what we are doing, and his growing is more purposeful (my purpose admittedly, but he does enjoy!). This year we have created an allotment plot in a little corner of my parents' farm. BB has been out with us (DD and I) digging, sewing, planting and watering. He has also sown the seeds for the courgettes, butternut squash, corn and green beans. We use the bench in our laundry as our "green house" and he is fascinated watching the seedlings grow out of the soil. He will also help us plant them out, watch them grow food and then harvest food for us to share, cook and eat.
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| Planting the green bean seeds this week |
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| Butternut Squash seedlings |
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| Preparing the soil at our new allotment |
BB was given a a great book for Christmas. It's called Grandpa's Garden and it is both a beautiful story and a practical guide to what is happening in the garden throughout the year. There is a little plan in the back of the book showing the layout of Grandpa's Garden, and we have actually used that as the basis of our design, so we have a garden like Grandpa's.
Today we celebrated Food Revolution Day with 4 generations of family. My mum and her mum came to lunch to share some food lovingly prepared by BB and I. When you're nearly 98, it has to be fish on a Friday, so we poached some haddock in butter and milk with a little parsley and garlic pepper, and served it with roast carrots, beans and potato chips.
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| Preparing lunch |
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Great Grandma and Grandma enjoying their lunch
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| BB with a hearty mouthful! |
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More posts to follow as our garden grows!
We have just purchased
From Seed to Plant by Gail Gibbons
Happy Food Revolution Day everyone.
#FRD2013
I love this! My kids have been out with me helping plant our garden. My daughter's janitor planted a garden at their school and the kids help tend it at recess time. Happy food revolution day :) It starts with us!
ReplyDeleteThat's great. It's an excellent family project too isn't it, as well as giving them some skill for life. And I love school gardens!
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